I hate that woman. Hope she dies from clogged arteries or colon cancer.

Posted by: NT | October 13, 2009 06:03 PM

Peta wheres the baby p killers billboard gone? dont tell me you have removed it because of complaints or something?

Posted by: bev | October 13, 2009 06:57 PM

people should eat good nutritious food. people should not eat meat. i can't believe that people really "debate" these ideas. and yes factory farming is unbelievable, cruel and bad.

Posted by: vegancoin | October 13, 2009 07:11 PM

Unfortunately your chef spoke out FOR factory farming, and not against.

Posted by: Candice | October 13, 2009 07:28 PM

The proponents of vegetarianism did not do a very good job on the show. To win this debate we must accentuate that all the grains, corn and soy used to wrongfully Fatten mistreated "Food Animals", should be used to rightfully feed the entire human population on earth. It must be empahsized that killing animals for meat causes more environmental toxicity and global warming than any other destructive human activity. The meat industry is also directly responsible for massive pollution, deforestation, ecosystem damage and severe water crises. Meat is obliterating mother earth.

Posted by: Brien Comerford | October 13, 2009 07:53 PM

Anthony's answer to not eating beef - eat bacon. Maybe he needs educating about pigs and factory farms!

Posted by: Angela Dillon | October 13, 2009 09:19 PM

Listen to the smart man.

Posted by: Michelle | October 14, 2009 04:25 AM

I just found some delicious veggie burgers :) But they're not vegan :(

Guess I'll just grill up a portobella mushroom!

Posted by: Pam Ernest | October 14, 2009 05:20 AM

I watched this program when it aired, and I was really disappointed. I agree, that "nutritionist" needs to get her facts straight, they barely let the vegetarian get in a few words, and not once in the entire program did King ask about animal rights! Its not just four ounces of protein that may or may not kill you. That burger was an animal who had been brutally tortured for its entire life before we slaughtered it. Disappointing.

Posted by: Leda | October 14, 2009 12:47 PM

You can get ecoli from veggies as well. That's why it's better to grow your own food and always make sure your compost system is complete. When our local farmers till the cropland they always run over hundreds of mice, rabbits and gophers and you always need to bury them deep enough to fully compost-one to two feet. If you don't you can have a rabbit ecoli nightmare on your hands.

Posted by: Dan | October 14, 2009 12:53 PM

Check out Dr. Michael Greger's excellent documentary "Flu Factories: Tracing the Origins of the Swine Flu Pandemic," to see the true cost of factory farming. Michael shows how an American pig factory farm was directly responsible for the current H1N1 swine flu.

You can watch the whole video online for free, or purchase it very cheaply. I bought the DVD and have watched it three times so far—it's very educational.

http://www.hsus.org/farm/resources/pubs/swine_flu.html

On that same page is a link to Michael's Bird Flu book, which you can read online for free, or order a hard-copy book—also extremely interesting and well-researched stuff.

Posted by: Mike Quinoa | October 14, 2009 02:58 PM

Even one of the world's most famous meat loving chef can agree that factory farming is unacceptable. That should say something.
It was dissapointing that the research by the prof from Cornell PROVING that a plant based diet is better for you wasn't even discussed because that so-called "nutritionist" kept droning on that animal protien is essential. Most Americans consume toooo much animal protien.
I wished they would just have shown a few pictures of what it is like for an animal to get slaughtered. That would really have changed a few peoples minds

Posted by: Laura | October 14, 2009 03:00 PM

Good, nice to see both sides for a change. It was educational and entertaining. Thanks.

Posted by: DMan | October 14, 2009 03:56 PM

there is one thing you cannot debate, and that is the sadistic cruelty involved with factory farming and eating meat. not to mention the damage to the environment and the eco-sphere.

Posted by: vegancoin | October 14, 2009 05:13 PM

If in the video Nancy Rodriguez sounds like a shill for the meat industry, there's a reason—she is a shill for the meat industry.

"KLA Today (Kansas Livestock Association) alerted members to Monday’s “Larry King Live” program on CNN about beef safety and nutrition. NCBA (National Cattlemen's Beef Association) helped connect King’s show producers with University of Connecticut Professor of Nutritional Sciences Nancy Rodriguez. The American Meat Institute offered president and chief executive officer J. Patrick Boyle as a spokesperson."

"Despite the emotional tone of the show, both beef industry spokespersons (meaning Boyle and Rodriguez—my comment) were able to deliver numerous positive messages about safety and nutrition."

Patrick Boyle would naturally be expected to defend the meat industry, but to portray Rodriguez as unbiased is laughable. She almost sounds as if she's doing a meat commercial.

She also seems to be unaware of the USDA's position on the matter:

"Protein has many important functions in the body and is essential for growth and maintenance. Protein needs can easily be met by eating a variety of plant-based foods."

Posted by: Mike Quinoa | October 14, 2009 10:01 PM

Way to misinterpret the outcome of the segment, blog writer.

Overall, I thought both sides did a bad job. No one got into debating specific issues. It was just like:

Meat industry guy: We're responsible and burger comes from good cuts of meat.

Meat advocating nutrionist: Meat is healthy. It's a convenient source of most required nutrients.

Vegetarian advocating scientist: My studies (which I won't say what they were specifically) show vegetables are good and meat is bad...and I was raised on a dairy farm!

FoodTV Chef: *insert amusing but irrelevant one-liner + "BACON!!!!"

Posted by: Kalama Halamezad | October 14, 2009 10:18 PM

I don't understand,how as a Mother would you still even consider eating ANY meat, after your CHILD was killed by eating a "simple" burger!?! How any times are people going to think food poising is just a case of diarrhea, they don't realize just how close to death they are.

Posted by: Jillianne | October 15, 2009 08:36 AM

There will never be anyone who will convince me that there is anything good about Meat or factory farming. It is discusting and cruel.

Posted by: carla | October 15, 2009 09:00 AM

Check out the website for S.T.O.P (Safe Tables Our Priority) and read the stories of adults, children, and unborn babies who are victims of e-coli, listeria, and other bacteria found in factory produced food.

Posted by: Rev. Meg Schramm | October 15, 2009 11:42 AM

@Jillianne
I got a food poisoning from fruit ice cream once(the waterbased ones), felt like i was in hell and i'm still eating fruit ice cream after that.

Posted by: roudamour | October 15, 2009 12:16 PM

Kalama said "Vegetarian advocating scientist: My studies (which I won't say what they were specifically) show vegetables are good and meat is bad...and I was raised on a dairy farm!"

Actually, Dr. Campbell did mention the China Study. He has a a 417-page book out by the same name which describes his studies of the relationship between diet and disease.

Posted by: Mike Quinoa | October 15, 2009 01:17 PM

Mike, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that nothing exists to back up his claims--I'm saying that he did a terrible job supporting his position.

I'm saying that invoking the China Study in debate is meaningless for most people. What is it? What does it say? Average Joe has to go out and buy it just to find out? He should have been referring to specific findings from peer-reviewed journals, not his personal interpretation of them.

I'm not entirely sure about the details of the China Study, but in the Wikipedia summary they keep comparing rural Chinese to Americans. There are differences beyond food that could be affecting the results...so it's not exactly conclusive (from the perspective that most people will become familiar with).

Posted by: Kalama Halamezad | October 15, 2009 05:39 PM

Kalama,

The China Study is a great read. I borrowed it from my local library.

The problem with a show like Larry King's is that there just isn't time to delve into specifics. I'm sure if Larry thought a guest was getting overly verbose he'd cut him/her off anyway.

The China "Studies" are the studies Dr. Campbell is most familiar with, and that's most likely why he tried to refer to them.

Though, of course, rural Chinese are mentioned, China represents a good microcosm of the entire world, with both rural and urban populations, as well as different dietary habits.

The traditional rice and vegetables diet with minimal meat (they do eat some meat, though Dr. Campbell feels the less eaten the better) seems to yield the best health results.

And as Dr. John McDougall also found out in his epidemiological studies, straying from this diet to a more North American style is health-detrimental.

Posted by: Mike Quinoa | October 16, 2009 11:20 AM

It's a fact that factory farming produces more greenhouse gas than even automobiles. Yet, there are no steps to reduce that effect. Not only is it killing the air, its polluting water, using valuable resources that could feed millions of people to feed millions of farm animals, and perpetuating the myth that we need so much protein in our diets.

Posted by: Doug D | October 16, 2009 04:32 PM

Bourdain came across like a complete buffoon.

Unfortunately, more time was not given to Dr. Campbell.
BTW, I read somewhere else that the publisher of the book, The China Study, chose the name as, at the time, all things Chinese were trendy, etc.

The book is definitely NOT only about China. Far, far, from it. And also good to note is that Dr. Campbell did not start out with a vegan agenda (which makes people angry and nervous), but rather he had a scientific agenda complete with animal experimentation.

Posted by: Barbara | October 17, 2009 04:31 PM

Larry: Is the E. coli thing an aberration?
Nancy: I don't think so.

LOL, classic.

Posted by: DJ M | October 22, 2009 08:17 PM